Glaittli

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Isaac Seloivre

1792. Isaac Selover (367) (368) was born in 1660 in Zeeland, Netherlands. He died after 1715 in Perh. Flatbush, , Ny. He has reference number 8GQS-25. He has Ancestral File number 8GQS-25. The earliest date we have been able to find, of a Selover in America, is the record of Isaac Selover, schoolmaster at Flatlands N.Y. 1695. In that same year, we find him paying taxes on property in the West Ward on New York City. In a list of persons made free of the City of New York, 1695, we find Isaac Sloover as a shop-keeper. There is every reason to believe that he was in America some time before that date. All branches of the family have the tradition that the family was originally French, possibly going to Holland after leaving France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, then coming to America. Mr. Dirk P. DeYoung in an article about Dutch Ancestral Names gives the origin of the name Selover-Slover, as from the Dutch word "de sloovere" meaning "the drudge". There is a possibility this was a nickname given to some member of the family, while living in Holland, the original French name being forgotten. The Slovers did not follow the Dutch customs but were more like the French. As a general rule, the Slovers were a hard-working group but the word "drudge" seems to imply not only a hardworking individual but an intelligent one. This is true of the family, as they were generally of an inventive turn of mind, easily adapting themselves to various conditions. Tradition also says the first settlement was made in the vicinity of New Castle, Delaware. The will of Susannah Slover, widow of Peter King of Cecil Co. Maryland, 1713 seems to show this to be true and also that the family was interested in the Labadist religion, since administrators and witnesses of the will were all members of that sect. This sect drew some members from nearby NewCastle. Susannah was presumably a daughter of Isaac Selover and Hester Leenda. Membership records of the New Amsterdam Church show that Isaac had his membership transferred from New Amerafoort to New Amsterdam, Sept. 3, 1696. His membership was transferred to French Church of New York City, June 10, 1700, but no records of the family appear in the French Church. Peter Ross's "History of Long Island" contains something of interest; "According to the tradition of our town, and the well known usages of other Dutch settlements, the schoolmaster was by virtue of his office, Reader in the church, Chorister and commonly Sexton, also. If this is true, we are able to name some of the honored leaders of mental progress in Flatlands from the very early time.---Isaac Selover, 1712-1715."